Wheelchair-bound man escapes fire

Tuesday

May 14, 2013 at 12:01 AMMay 14, 2013 at 9:02 PM

Damage estimated at more than $100,000

Wes Wolfe / Staff Writer

A man in a wheelchair escaped a fire that claimed much of his house Tuesday morning.

The Lenoir County 911 center received a call at 4:04 a.m. of a fire at 1408 St. James Place and dispatched the Kinston Department of Public Safety. Firefighters arrived at the scene to find the home’s resident, Joe Burchette, on his back porch waiting for them. He was unharmed.

The fire resulted in an estimated damage of $80,000 to the home and $25,000 to its contents. It started from an electrical short in the exhaust fan of a bathroom.

“Most of the time, heat — and smoke, of course — is going to rise,” KDPS spokesman Woody Spencer said. “You’re not going to notice as fast if it were in an outlet down at the floor. You’re not going to smell it, and it can get out of hand.

“By the time you know that it’s there, it’s already spread into the ceiling and it could be spreading into the walls, as well.”

Spencer suggested that after first noticing smoke or a fire, to exit the building and immediately contact the fire department.

Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 or wes.wolfe@kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.